Philosophy In Jain Agams: Mind and Speech is Material

Mind and speech are two faculties that are found in living beings^[1], but in themselves are non-living, material and corporeal.^[2] Speech is received through auditory sense organs so it is corporeal.^[3] Incorporeal are not be sense perceptible.^[4] Sounds and speech are not one and the same. Sounds can be produced by non-living objects too, but that is not speech in particular as speech is produced only by speech bio­potentials (bhāṣā-paryāpti).^[5] Speech bio-potentials are found in living beings only. When living being speaks out, that is speech. Prior or posterior to it there is no existence of speech.^[6] The atomic clusters usable for speech are pervasive all over the cosmos. The speaker receives them, transforms them into speech and after its utility eliminates them.

The elimination of speech atoms takes place at the very moment of speech. Through this alone, one can know the meaning denoted by the words spoken. Similarly, mind is also constituted of matter. When thoughts are processed, mind exists. Prior or posterior to it, there is no existence of mind.^[7] Mind is corporeal and material, this shows that our thoughts are also material by nature. The material clusters of speech received by soul get transformed into speech and the material clusters of mind received by soul get transformed into mental functioning. Jain philosophy states two kinds of mind- one is physical mind and the other is psychical mind. Physical mind is material in nature and psychical mind is conscious in nature. It is an integral aspect of the soul.^[8]

Thinking is an important aspect of our existence. Descartes has proved the existence of self on the basis of thinking power.^[9] Thought becomes a medium of expressing consciousness. Man is a thinking being, but thoughts in themselves are materialistic and physical. This is the postulation of Jain philosophy.